Save Time Optimising Process Conditions Enabling Rapid Vaccine Production

TAP Biosystems (UK) have announced it has developed a new method of using microcarriers with its ambr micro bioreactor system. This technique enables scientists to produce uniform microcarrier samples and perform automated media exchange to rapidly optimise parameters for culturing adherent cell lines on microcarriers, thus shortening timelines for successfully scaling up manufacturing of vaccines and cell therapies.

Scientists at TAP have utilised the ambr workstation to develop an automated method for providing highly consistent dispensing of microcarriers to multiple 10-15mL ambr microbioreactors. This means scientists can then rapidly test up to 24 cell-specific culture parameters in parallel including stirring, media formulation or feed strategies to determine the optimum conditions for cell attachment, growth rate and vaccine titre, for example.

The new method, which has been developed using Vero adherent cells attached to Cytodex 1 microcarriers, allows a 20% media exchange to be performed at any time of the day or night on 24 ambr vessels in approximately 4h. Since the method allows even microcarrier distribution, scientists can then study up to 24 different parameters in parallel, simultaneously. This reduces reliance on spinner flasks and bench top bioreactors, saving vaccine and cell therapy manufacturers many months of scale-up process development work.